Interactive table to present multi-level relationships between data items

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, a first selection of a data item in an interactive table is received. Further, one or more data items related to the first selected data item in the interactive table are identified. The interactive table is modified to render the data items identified as related to the first selected data item. Furthermore, a second selection of a data item within the data items identified as related to the first selected data item is received and one or more data items related to the second selected data item within the data items identified as related to the first selected data item are identified. Further, the previously modified interactive table is again modified to render the data items identified as related to the second selected data item.

FIELD

Embodiments generally relate to data presentation and more particularlyto methods and systems to modify an interactive table for presentingmulti-level relationships between data items.

BACKGROUND

Data presentation, such as data presentation in a graphical userinterface (GUI) on a display device of a computer system, facilitates auser in understanding and interpreting the data. Depending on the typeof data, the data is presented using different formats such as tables,maps, graphs, charts and the like. In a scenario where high-densitydataset has to be presented, tables are preferred. Presently, tabularrepresentation of data suffers from a number of limitations that affecttheir usefulness. In particular, in a table having a number of rows andcolumns, only a few may be of interest to the user. Further, in-linetable controls that allow users to filter table information and tore-arrange the table format limit the presentation of data based onmanual selection of data items and do not provide relationships betweenthe data items in the table.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The claims set forth the embodiments with particularity. The embodimentsare illustrated by way of examples and not by way of limitation in thefigures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicatesimilar elements. The embodiments, together with its advantages, may bebest understood from the following detailed description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating modifying an interactive table,according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method to modify an interactivetable to present multi-level relationships between data items, accordingto an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary interactive table illustrating step 210 of FIG.2, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary modified interactive table illustrating steps 230and 240 of FIG. 2, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary modified interactive table illustrating step 260of FIG. 2, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary user interface illustrating a method of addingdata items to a modified interactive table, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an exemplary computer system, according toan embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of techniques to modify an interactive table for presentingmulti-level relationships between data items are described herein.According to various embodiments, the interactive table includes aplurality of cells arranged in rows and columns including data items topresent data in a structured format. The data items can be data storedin a database associated with a business object of an application. Thedata item may include, but not be limited, to alphabets, numbers,special characters and any combination thereof. Further, the interactivetables can be used both in stand-alone computer environments and on anetwork such as the Web. According to one embodiment, data items in theinteractive table are displayed based on a user selection of aparticular data item and relationships between the selected data itemand other data items in the interactive table. In other words, the dataitems related to the user selected data item are presented. Therefore,the multi-level relationships between the data items in the interactivetable can be easily visualized.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment”, “thisembodiment” and similar phrases, means that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodimentis included in at, least one of the one or more embodiments. Thus, theappearances of these phrases in various places throughout thisspecification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics maybe combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

FIG. 1 is block diagram 100 illustrating modifying an interactive table,according to an embodiment. The block diagram 100 shows differentversions of the interactive table (e.g., 105, 110 and 115) as per userselection of data items and other data items related to the selecteddata items. According to one embodiment, the interactive table 105 isgenerated by a processor 150 of a computing system 120) based on dataitems associated with a business object 155. The business object 155 mayreside in the memory 125 of the computing system 120. For example, thebusiness object 155 may include, but is not limited to an identitymanagement business object including data items related to employees ofan organization and a mobile administration business object includingdata items related to different profiles of the employees in theorganization. The interactive table 105 depicts all possible data items(e.g., A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3, C1, C2, C3, D1, D2 and D3) associatedwith the business object 155. However, the data items within thebusiness object may or may not be related to each other. Further, a usermay be interested in displaying only a subset of a set of related dataitems. For example, the user may be interested in the data item A1 andthe related data items of A1.

In one embodiment, the user is provided an option to select a first dataitem in the interactive table 105. Further, for the selected first dataitem, related data items in the interactive table 105 are identified.For example, the first data item A1 associated with a column A (e.g.,130) of the interactive table 105 is selected. Upon receiving theselection of the first data item A1, data items (e.g., B1, C1, C2, D1and D2) related to the first data item A1 are identified. The identifieddata items (e.g., B1, C1, C2, D1 and D2) are associated with at leastone of the other columns (e.g., 135 including columns B, C and D) of theinteractive table 105. Furthermore, the interactive table 105 ismodified to include the identified data items (e.g., B1, C1, C2, D1 andD2) as shown in the interactive table 110. Also, the column A (e.g.,130) corresponding to the selected first data item A1 is retained in themodified interactive table 110. Therefore, the first level ofrelationships between the selected first data item (e.g., A1) and thedata items (e.g., B1, C1, C2, D1 and D2) can be easily visualized.

Further, even though the identified data items (e.g., B1, C1, C2, D1 andD2) are related to the first data item A1, the data items (e.g., B1, C1,C2, D1 and D2) may or may not be related to each other. But, they mayhave data items in the identified data items that they are relatedindividually. So the user may further desire to drill down to view suchdata items that are related to the data items identified as beingrelated to the first selected data item (e.g., B1, C1, C2, D1 and D2)while also retaining the relationship with the first data item (e.g.,A1).

In one embodiment, the user is provided an option to select a seconddata item from the set of the data items identified as being related tothe first selected data item. Based on the selection, data items relatedto the second selected data item in the identified data items areidentified and presented as shown in interactive table 115. For example,if the second data item C1. is selected in the identified data items(e.g., B1, C1, C2, D1 and D2), the data items (e.g., B1 and D1associatedwith columns 140 and 145) related to the second selected data item C1are automatically identified and presented. Further, the column (e.g.,column A) associated with the first selected data item A1 and a column(e.g., column C) associated with the second selected data item C1 areretained in the interactive table 115. In this manner, the second levelof relationships between the first selected data item (e.g., A1), thesecond selected data item (e.g., C1) and the data items (e.g., B1 andD1) further related to the second data item (e.g., C1) can be easilyvisualized. Therefore, the multi-level relationships between the dataitems in the interactive table can be visualized. The method ofmodifying interactive table to present multi-level relationships betweenthe data items is described in greater detail in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram 200 illustrating a method to modify aninteractive table to present multi-level relationships between dataitems, according to an embodiment. For example, an identity managementbusiness object includes a large set of data pertaining to differentattributes such as employee name, identity number, age, project details,address, security profiles of the employees and the like. Presentingsuch data in a tabular layout makes the table lengthy and visualizingrelationships between the attributes to analyze the data may not befeasible. In one embodiment, the data in the identity managementbusiness object is depicted in the interactive table which helps tovisualize the relationships between the data items. For example, in FIG.3, an interactive table 300 illustrates all possible data in theidentity management business object through attributes such as ‘names’310, ‘identity number’ 315, ‘security profiles’ 320 and ‘projects’ 325.However, the relationships between the data items, i.e., which employee(e.g., ‘Tom’, ‘John’, ‘Tony’, ‘Henry’, ‘Mary’ and ‘Alex’) includes whichsecurity profile (e.g., ‘userID & password’, ‘test security profile’,‘certificate’, ‘single sign on’ and ‘henry test security profile’) inwhich project (e.g., customer relationship management ‘CRM’, financemanagement ‘FM’, human resource management ‘HR’, supplier relationshipmanagement ‘SRM’, production management ‘PM’, business warehouse ‘BW’and quality management ‘QM’) is not presented in the interactive table300.

At step 210, a first selection of a data item in the interactive tableis received. For example, in the interactive table 300, a first dataitem ‘Tom’ 330 is selected as shown in FIG. 3. At step 220, one or moredata items related to the first selected data item in the interactivetable are identified. In one exemplary embodiment, the data items areidentified by analyzing a business object associated with theinteractive table. For example in FIG. 3, the data items related to thefirst selected data item ‘Tom’ 330 are identified. In the example, dataitem ‘I060100’ in the column ‘identity number’ 315, data items ‘user ID& password’, ‘test security profile’ and ‘single sign on’ in the column‘security profiles’ 320, and data items ‘CRM’, ‘SRM’, ‘QM’ and ‘PM’ inthe column ‘projects’ 325, which are related to the first data item‘Tom’ are identified. In other words, the column ‘names’ 310 isconsidered as the key column and the data items related to the data item‘tom’ 330 are identified in the other columns (e.g., identity number’315, ‘security profiles’ 320 and ‘projects’ 325) of the interactivetable 300.

At step 230, the interactive table is modified to render the data itemsidentified as related to the first selected data item to presentrelationships between the first selected data item and the data itemsidentified as related to the first selected data item. For example, theidentified data items (e.g., ‘I060100’, ‘user ID & password’, ‘testsecurity profile’ ‘single sign on’, ‘CRM’, ‘SRM’, ‘QM’ and ‘PM’) arerendered with respect to one of ‘identity number’ 315, ‘securityprofiles’ 320 and ‘projects’ 325 colunms of an interactive table asshown in the modified interactive table 400 of FIG. 4. Further, thecolumn corresponding to the first selected data item (e.g., ‘names’ 310)is retained in the modified interactive table 400. Therefore, the firstlevel of data items related to the first selected data item ‘Tom’ 330are presented. In other words, an employee by name ‘Tom’ having‘identity number’ I060100. is assigned three different types of securityprofiles (e.g., userID & password, test security profile and single signon) for four projects (e.g., CRM, SRM, QM and PM) can be easily analyzedthrough the modified interactive table 400.

At step 240, a second selection of a data item within the data itemsidentified as related to the first selected data item is received. Forexample, in the modified interactive table 400, a second data item ‘testsecurity profile’ 410 is selected as shown in FIG. 4. At step 250, oneor more data items related to the second selected data item within thedata items identified as related to the first selected data item areidentified. In one exemplary embodiment, the data items are identifiedby analyzing the business object associated with the interactive table.For example, the data items in the columns pertaining to ‘identitynumber’ 315 and ‘projects’ 325 of FIG. 4 are analyzed to identify thedata items related to the second selected data item ‘test securityprofile’ 410. In the example, data item ‘I060100’ in the column‘identity number’ 315 and data item ‘QM’ in the column ‘projects’ 325,which are related to the second selected data item ‘test securityprofile’ 410 are identified.

At step 260, the previously modified interactive table is again modifiedto render the data items identified as related to the second selecteddata item to present relationships between the first selected data item,the second selected data item and the data items identified as relatedto the second selected data item. For example, the identified data items‘I060100’ and ‘QM’) related to the second selected data item ‘testsecurity profile’ 410 are rendered with respect to one of ‘identitynumber’ 315 and ‘projects’ 325 columns of the interactive table as shownin the modified interactive table 500 of FIG. 5. Further, the columncorresponding to the first selected data item (e.g., column ‘names’ 310of FIG. 4) and the column corresponding to the second selected data item(e.g., column ‘security profiles’ 320 of FIG. 4) are retained in themodified interactive table 500. Therefore, the second level ofrelationships between the first selected data item, the second selecteddata item and the data items identified as related to the secondselected data item can be easily visualized in the interactive table. Inother words, the security profile ‘test security profile’ 410 assignedto ‘Tom’ 330, with identity number ‘I060100’, to the project ‘QM’ can beeasily visualized.

In one embodiment, modifying the interactive table includes displayingthe modified interactive table on a computer generated graphical userinterface. Further, the computer generated graphical user interfaceincludes an option to add and delete the data items in the modifiedinteractive tables to establish new relationships between the dataitems, which is described with an example in FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary user interface 600 illustrating a method ofadding data items to a modified interactive table 605, according to anembodiment. For example, the modified interactive table 605 can be, butis not limited to the modified interactive table 400 of FIG. 4 and themodified interactive table 500 of FIG. 5. In the example, the modifiedinteractive table 605 depicts the modified interactive table 400 of FIG.4. In one embodiment, an additional portion 610 is associated with themodified interactive table 605. Further, the additional portion includesall data items of each attribute in a business object associated withthe interactive table. For example, the additional portion 610 includesall possible data items of an identity management business object suchas ‘names’ 615, ‘identity number’ 620, ‘security profiles’ 625 and‘projects’ 630. In one embodiment, an option is provided to select aparticular attribute of the business object. In the example, theattribute ‘projects’ 630 is selected and accordingly, a list of allpossible projects in the identity management business object isdisplayed at 640.

The additional portion 610 facilitates modification, addition and/ordeletion of the data items in the interactive table 605. For example, acolumn ‘projects’ 325 in the interactive table 605 originally included‘CRM’, ‘SRM’, ‘QM’ and ‘PM’. In one exemplary embodiment, other projectscan be added by dragging the data items from the additional portion 610to the interactive table 605 as shown in 635 (e.g., project financemanagement ‘FM’ is included by dragging the ‘FM’ to the column‘projects’ 325). Therefore, the data items to the interactive table canbe easily added and/or deleted from the modified interactive table 605and the modification is reflected in the business object associated withthe interactive table.

In one embodiment, a functionality to make the table easier to use byproviding quick understanding of relationships between data items isdescribed. Further, a separate additional portion can be used to showthe complete resource pool from which simple user interaction such asdrag and drop, and the like can be used to establish new relationshipsbetween the data items.

Some embodiments may include the above-described methods being writtenas one or more software components. These components, and thefunctionality associated with each, may be used by client, server,distributed, or peer computer systems. These components may be writtenin a computer language corresponding to one or more programminglanguages such as, functional, declarative, procedural, object-oriented,lower level languages and the like. They may be linked to othercomponents via various application programming interfaces and thencompiled into one complete application for a server or a client.Alternatively, the components maybe implemented in server and clientapplications. Further, these components may be linked together viavarious distributed programming protocols. Some example embodiments mayinclude remote procedure calls being used to implement one or more ofthese components across a distributed programming environment. Forexample, a logic level may reside on a first computer system that isremotely located from a second computer system containing an interfacelevel (e.g., a graphical user interface). These first and secondcomputer systems can be configured in a server-client, peer-to-peer, orsome other configuration. The clients can vary in complexity from mobileand handheld devices, to thin clients and on to thick clients or evenother servers.

The above-illustrated software components are tangibly stored on acomputer readable storage medium as instructions. The term “computerreadable storage medium” should be taken to include a single medium ormultiple media that stores one or more sets of instructions. The term“computer readable storage medium” should be taken to include anyphysical article that is capable of undergoing a set of physical changesto physically store, encode, or otherwise carry a set of instructionsfor execution by a computer system which causes the computer system toperform any of the methods or process steps described, represented, orillustrated herein. Examples of computer readable storage media include,but are not limited to: magnetic media, such as hard disks, floppydisks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROMs, DVDs andholographic devices; magneto-optical media; and hardware devices thatare specially configured to store and execute, such asapplication-specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”), programmable logicdevices (“PLDs”) and ROM and RAM devices. Examples of computer readableinstructions include machine code, such as produced by a compiler, andfiles containing higher-level code that are executed by a computer usingan interpreter. For example, an embodiment may be implemented usingJava, C++, or other object-oriented programming language and developmenttools. Another embodiment may be implemented in hard-wired circuitry inplace of, or in combination with machine readable software instructions.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an exemplary computer system 700, accordingto an embodiment. The computer system 700 includes a processor 705 thatexecutes software instructions or code stored on a computer readablestorage medium 755 to perform the above-illustrated methods. Thecomputer system 700 includes a media reader 740 to read the instructionsfrom the computer readable storage medium 755 and store the instructionsin storage 710 or in random access memory (RAM) 715. The storage 710provides a large space for keeping static data where at least someinstructions could be stored for later execution. The storedinstructions may be further compiled to generate other representationsof the instructions and dynamically stored in the RAM 715. The processor705 reads instructions from the RAM 715 and performs actions asinstructed. According to one embodiment, the computer system 700 furtherincludes an output device 725 (e.g., a display) to provide at least someof the results of the execution as output including, but not limited to,visual information to users and an input device 730 to provide a user oranother device with means for entering data and/or otherwise interactwith the computer system 700. Each of these output devices 725 and inputdevices 730 could be joined by one or more additional peripherals tofurther expand the capabilities of the computer system 700. A networkcommunicator 735 may be provided to connect the computer system 700 to anetwork 750 and in turn to other devices connected to the network 750including other clients, servers, data stores, and interfaces, forinstance. The modules of the computer system 700 are interconnected viaa bus 745. Computer system 700 includes a data source interface 720 toaccess data source 760. The data source 760 can be accessed via one ormore abstraction layers implemented in hardware or software. Forexample, the data source 760 may be accessed by network 750, in someembodiments the data source 760 may be accessed via an abstractionlayer, such as, a semantic layer.

A data source is an information resource. Data sources include sourcesof data that enable data storage and retrieval. Data sources may includedatabases, such as, relational, transactional, hierarchical,multi-dimensional (e.g., OLAP), object oriented databases, and the like.Further data sources include tabular data (e.g., spreadsheets, delimitedtext files), data tagged with a markup language (e.g., XML data),transactional data, unstructured data (e.g., text files, screenscrapings), hierarchical data (e.g., data in a file system, XML data),files, a plurality of reports, and any other data source accessiblethrough an established protocol, such as, Open Data Base Connectivity(ODBC), produced by an underlying software system (e.g., ERP system),and the like. Data sources may also include a data source where the datais not tangibly stored or otherwise ephemeral such as data streams,broadcast data, and the like. These data sources can include associateddata foundations, semantic layers, management systems, security systemsand so on.

In the above description, numerous specific details are set forth toprovide a thorough understanding of embodiments. One skilled in therelevant art will recognize, however that the embodiments can bepracticed without one or more of the specific details or with othermethods, components, techniques, etc. In other instances, well-knownoperations or structures are not shown or described in detail.

Although the processes illustrated and described herein include seriesof steps, it will be appreciated that the different embodiments are notlimited by the illustrated ordering of steps, as some steps may occur indifferent orders, some concurrently with other steps apart from thatshown and described herein. In addition, not all illustrated steps maybe required to implement a methodology in accordance with the one ormore embodiments. Moreover, it will be appreciated that the processesmay be implemented in association with the apparatus and systemsillustrated and described herein as well as in association with othersystems not illustrated.

The above descriptions and illustrations of embodiments, including whatis described in the Abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or tolimit the one or more embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. Whilespecific embodiments of, and examples for, the one or more embodimentsare described herein for illustrative purposes, various equivalentmodifications are possible within the scope, as those skilled in therelevant art will recognize. These modifications can be made in light ofthe above detailed description. Rather, the scope is to be determined bythe following claims, which are to be interpreted in accordance withestablished doctrines of claim construction.

What is claimed is:
 1. An article of manufacture including anon-transitory computer readable storage medium to store instructions,which when executed by a computer, cause the computer to: receive aselection of a first data item in an interactive table, wherein theselected first data item is associated with a first column of theinteractive table; identify data items in the interactive table, relatedto the selected first data item, wherein the identified data items areassociated with a plurality of other columns of the interactive table;modify the interactive table to render, in the plurality of othercolumns, only the associated data items identified as related to theselected first data item to present a first level of relationshipsbetween the selected first data item and the data items identified asrelated to the selected first data item; receive a selection of a seconddata item within the data items identified as related to the selectedfirst data item, wherein the selected second data item is associatedwith a second column of the plurality of other columns of theinteractive table; identify one or more data items related to theselected second data item within the data items identified as related tothe selected first data item, wherein the identified one or more dataitems are associated with at least one remaining column of the pluralityof other columns of the interactive table; and modify the previouslymodified interactive table to render, in the at least one remainingcolumn of the plurality of other columns, only the associated one ormore data items identified as related to the selected second data itemto present a second level of relationships between the selected firstdata item, the selected second data item and the one or more data itemsidentified as related to the selected second data item.
 2. The articleof manufacture of claim 1, wherein modifying the interactive tablefurther comprises retaining the first column associated with theselected first data item in the interactive table.
 3. The article ofmanufacture of claim 1, wherein modifying the previously modifiedinteractive table further comprises retaining the first columnassociated with the selected first data item and the second columnassociated with the selected second data item in the interactive table.4. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the data items relatedto the selected first data item and the one or more data items relatedto the selected second data item are identified by analyzing a businessobject associated with the interactive table.
 5. The article ofmanufacture of claim 1 further comprising rendering the interactivetable on a computer generated graphical user interface.
 6. The articleof manufacture of claim 5, wherein the computer generated graphical userinterface further comprises an option to add or delete a data item inthe interactive table.
 7. The article of manufacture of claim 6, whereinadding or deleting the data item in the interactive table furthercomprises modifying a business object associated with the interactivetable.
 8. A computer implemented method to provide an interactive tablepresenting multi-level relationships between data items, the methodcomprising: receiving a selection of a first data item in theinteractive table, wherein the selected first data item is associatedwith a first column of the interactive table; identifying data items inthe interactive table, related to the selected first data item, whereinthe identified data items are associated with a plurality of othercolumns of the interactive table; modifying the interactive table torender, in the plurality of other columns, only the associated dataitems identified as related to the selected first data item to present afirst level of relationships between the selected first data item andthe data items identified as related to the selected first data item;receiving a selection of a second data item within the data itemsidentified as related to the selected first data item, wherein theselected second data item is associated with a second column of theplurality of other columns of the interactive table; identifying one ormore data items related to the selected second data item within the dataitems identified as related to the selected first data item, wherein theidentified one or more data items are associated with at least oneremaining column of the plurality of other columns of the interactivetable; and modifying the previously modified interactive table torender, in the at least one remaining column of the plurality of othercolumns, only the associated one or more data items identified asrelated to the selected second data item to present a second level ofrelationships between the selected first data item, the selected seconddata item and the one or more data items identified as related to theselected second data item.
 9. The computer implemented method of claim8, wherein modifying the interactive table further comprises retainingthe first column associated with the selected first data item in theinteractive table.
 10. The computer implemented method of claim 8,modifying the previously modified interactive table further comprisesretaining the first column associated with the selected first data itemand the second column associated with the selected second data item inthe interactive table.
 11. The computer implemented method of claim 8,wherein the data items related to the selected first data item and theone or more data items related to the selected second data item areidentified by analyzing a business object associated with theinteractive table.
 12. The computer implemented method of claim 8further comprising rendering the interactive table on a computergenerated graphical user interface.
 13. The computer implemented methodof claim 12, wherein the computer generated graphical user interfacefurther comprises an option to add or delete a data item in theinteractive table.
 14. The computer implemented method of claim 13,wherein adding or deleting the data item in the interactive tablefurther comprises modifying a business object associated with theinteractive table.
 15. A computer system to provide an interactive tablepresenting multi-level relationships between data items, the computersystem comprising: at least one processor; and one or more memorydevices communicative with the at least one processor, wherein the oneor more memory devices store instructions to: receive a selection of afirst data item in the interactive table, wherein the selected firstdata item is associated with a first column of the interactive table;identify data items in the interactive table, related to the selectedfirst data item, wherein the identified data items are associated with aplurality of other columns of the interactive table; modify theinteractive table to render, in the plurality of other columns, only theassociated data items identified as related to the selected first dataitem to present a first level of relationships between the selectedfirst data item and the data items identified as related to the selectedfirst data item; receive a selection of a second data item within thedata items identified as related to the selected first data item,wherein the selected second data item is associated with a second columnof the plurality of other columns of the interactive table; identify oneor more data items related to the selected second data item within thedata items identified as related to the selected first data item,wherein the identified one or more data items are associated with atleast one remaining column of the plurality of other columns of theinteractive table; and modify the previously modified interactive tableto render, in the at least one remaining column of the plurality ofother columns, only the associated one or more data items identified asrelated to the selected second data item to present a second level ofrelationships between the selected first data item, the selected seconddata item and the one or more data items identified as related to theselected second data item.
 16. The computer system of claim 15, whereinmodifying the interactive table further comprises retaining the firstcolumn associated with the selected first data item in the interactivetable.
 17. The computer system of claim 15, wherein modifying thepreviously modified interactive table further comprises retaining thefirst column associated with the selected first data item and the secondcolumn associated with the selected second data item in the interactivetable.
 18. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the data itemsrelated to the selected first data item and the one or more data itemsrelated to the selected second data item are identified by analyzing abusiness object associated with the interactive table.
 19. The computersystem of claim 15 further comprising rendering the interactive table ona computer generated graphical user interface.
 20. The computer systemof claim 19, wherein the computer generated graphical user interfacefurther comprises an option to add or delete a data item in theinteractive table.